Upstate NY jam-centric music festival Mountain Jam returns in 2015 from June 4-7 at its usual location of Hunter Mountain. This year's lineup includes festival co-founder Warren Haynes' band Gov't Mule, along with The Black Keys, Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Shakey Graves, Benjamin Booker, The Wailers, The Budos Band, Nikki Lane, Amy Helm & the Handsome Strangers, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and more. Tickets are on sale now.

NYC's annualEcstatic Music Festival returns to the Merkin Concert Hall this year with various shows happening from February through April, following the two free concerts at the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place in January. As always, it includes collaborations between indie and classical artists, and this year's lineup features Julia Holter, Xiu Xiu, Kaki King, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Helado Negro, Emily Wells, Bang on a Can All-Stars (premiering works by Glenn Kotche, Jace Clayton and Ben Frost), and more. Tickets are on sale now.

To celebrate the 1980-1990 period of Bob Dylan's career, ATO Records will release Bob Dylan in the 80s: Vol. 1 on March 25. The tribute compilation was put together by producers Jesse Lauter (Elvis Perkins, The Low Anthem) and Sean O'Brien (Dawes, PAPA), and features covers by Built to Spill, Deer Tick, The Hold Steady's Craig Finn, Gene Ween & Slash, Glen Hansard, Dawn Landes & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Blitzen Trapper, Yellowbirds, Ivan & Alyosha, Reggie Watts, Elvis Perkins, Lucius and more. Listen to Built to Spill's take on "Jokerman" from the compilation, with the full tracklist, below.

The new compilation will be celebrated with a record release show in NYC the day before its release at Music Hall of Williamsburg (3/24). The show will feature Dylan's music performed by some of the artists on the album, including John & Ian of Deer Tick, Elvis Perkins, Langhorne Slim, Dawn Landes, Yellowbirds, Hannah Cohen and members of Tea Leaf Green. The lineup also includes Spirit Family Reunion (who are not on the album) and "special guests." Tickets for the show go on sale Friday (2/28) at noon.

Stream Built to Spill's "Jokerman" cover with the album tracklist, below...

Levon Helm lost his long battle with cancer on April 19, and his life and legacy will be celebrated at a couple of upcoming events, starting with a show by The Band tribute band The The Band Band at BB King's tonight (5/8). A portion of ticket sales will go to The American Cancer Society in honor of Levon Helm.

Brooklyn Bowl is hosting "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down": A Celebration of the Life and Music of Levon Helm on June 4. Marco Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz, Scott Metzger and Joe Russo (of Zeppelin tribute band Bustle in Your Hedgerow and other projects) form the core of the tribute, with special guests including Craig Finn & Tad Kubler (The Hold Steady), members of Guster, members of The Felice Brothers, Nicole Atkins, Phosphorescent, Family Band, Diamond Doves, Kelli Scarr, Yellowbirds, and Tom Hamilton of American Babies. Tickets are $20 and on sale now, and proceeds will go to benefit Helm's "The Barn" studio.

Winter Jazz Fest is returning to NYC in 2012 and will take place in multiple Greenwich Village venues from January 6-7 including Le Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall, Kenny's Castaways, Zinc Bar, and The Bitter End. Artists performing this year include Bill Laswell, DJ Spinna, John Medeski, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Nels Cline Singers, Vijay Iyer Trio, Tyshawn Sorey, Mary Halvorson, Bernie Worrell, Marco Benevento, Jenny Scheinman, and many more. Two day passes and single day tickets are on sale now. There is also a kickoff show happening at Le Poisson Rouge on January 5 with Medeski / Skerik / Deitch, Red Baraat, and Marc Ribot's Young Philadelphians. You can also purchase a pass that includes a ticket for this show plus the two day festival pass (it's a little confusing, but if you click through on each LPR ticket link, you'll see the various options for each one).

A few songs into Land Of Talk's set at Mercury Lounge on Saturday night the sold out audience began asking for more vocals. "I think all of your bodies are absorbing my vocals," said frontwoman, Elizabeth Powell.

Things are different than when last Powell played New York. It's been a rough year since her voice gave out and forced the band off tour from support of last year's excellent Some Are Lakes (which included dates with Broken Social Scene). Powell, who was singing with BSS in addition to her own band, had surgery to correct damage to her vocal chords, she took voice lessons, wrote several songs which make up their new Fun and Laughter EP as well as the forthcoming album which the band began recording last month. She wears an in-ear monitor in concert now and everything is clearly in place to protect her distinctive voice that used to go head-to-head with her razor-sharp guitar playing. Now her voice has acquiesced, it's a bit softer though she did let it go a few times, especially during "All My Friends" and the line "Hustling leaves me white hot / blue in the face / eyes blood shot." But despite her subdued vocals the packed crowd was still riveted; her guitar playing, the drumming of Andrew Barr and multi-insturmental duties of Joe Yarmush all outstanding through a set that didn't end until half past 1am.

The show was one of a few dates with Surprise Me Mr. Davis (Marco Benevento & members of The Slip). More pictures from the NYC show below...

Since the closing of LES spot Tonic in 2007, The Stone has been one of the venues that's attempted to fill the void left by the experimental-music-friendly space.

Like Tonic did, The Stone frequently brings on guest curators (not coincidentally Stone founder John Zorn was one of Tonic's most regular hosts and played at Tonic's final show). Now, with guitarist Grey Gersten's monthlong May curatorial run ending Sunday, May 31st, former Tonic co-owner Melissa Caruso Scott comes out of booking retirement to take the reigns in programing the first two weeks of June at The Stone.

Speaking about her choices Scott said, "These artists played some of my favorite Tonic shows and I can't wait to see them again." Her picks include Japanese musician Yuka Honda, who's also playing a Summerstage show with Mike Watt, guitarist Charlie Hunter, Elysian Fields, Vernon Reid, Joan as Polcewoman, cellist Erik Friedlander, and more. Her full schedule is posted below.

Speaking of Friendlander, he plays on Yoko Ono's new DON'T STOP ME! EP (out June 9th Via iTunes Exclusive Digital Download), and you can also catch him live on June 5th along with saxophone player Colin Stetson at the Abrons Art Space Recital Hall. The show is presented by The Manhattan New Music Project, and tickets are on sale.

Before the time of both Tonic and The Stone, the original Knitting Factory on Houston Street featured an ecclectic mix of avant and experimental music (frequently with Zorn and others). The co-founder of that venue, show promoter and current owner of City WineryMichael Dorf, will curate the second half of the June at The Stone.

JB Townsend: Brad [Hargett], the singer, and I had just been playing around for about a year before we really started playing out around 2002. We met in Florida, before we moved to [Brooklyn], and we both wanted to get out of there. We really didn't take it too seriously -- we were just playing for fun. But then we ended up able to record at a space in Greenpoint called Junkyard, which was used by a lot of bands on the Social Registry label. We started recording and released a 7". Someone sent it out to college radio, and it did ok. We were really surprised; we had absolutely no expectations whatsoever. And that was a big encouragement to take it all a little bit more seriously.

Spazzy drummer Zach Hill (Hella/Marnie Stern/Team Sleep/The Ladies) will be in town over the next two days performing "Necromancer" with Peer Pressure or, the second disc of the 2CD extravaganza known as Astrological Straits (out now on Ipecac). So what's "Necromancer" all about, and who the hell is Peer Pressure?

HELLO ! TO THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN INQUIRING ABOUT WHAT AND WHO "PEER PRESSURE" MAY BE IT'S ACTUALLY MY DRUM SET! HAHA THATS STRAIGHT TALK! IN THE FUTURE THIS MONIKER WILL MOST LIKELY DEFINE A COLLECTIVE OF HUMAN BEINGS PLAYING SONGS AND MY DRUM SET, BUT FOR THIS TOUR ITS A METAPHOR FOR THE DRUMS AND THATS ABOUT ALL I'M BRINGING AND ALL IM PLAYING. TO MAKE IT CLEAR SO THERES NO CONFUSION ABOUT MY UPCOMING PERFORMANCES I AM PERFORMING A 45 MINUTE NON STOP HEAVILY IMPROVISED RENDITION OF THE TRACK "NECROMANCER" OFF OF MY NEWEST SOLO RELEASE. THIS WILL BE ME ON DRUMS AND THE LAPTOP ON LAPTOP OR THE IPOD ON IPOD. I PLAN ON PERFORMING THE MORE SONG ORIENTED MATERIAL OFF THE ALBUM WITH A FULL BAND IN THE THE FUTURE BUT FOR MANY REASONS IT WAS UNREALISTIC AT THIS JUNCTURE. SO THIS IS HOW I WILL BE EXPRESSING MYSELF IN THE NOW ASIDE FROM THE SHOWS WERE ITS NOTED THAT I'LL HAVE SOMEONE AWESOME SITTING IN WITH ME! [Zach Hill]

Sullivan Hall is a 345 capacity music and event venue located in Greenwich Village in downtown Manhattan near the New York University community (214 Sullivan St.). We are big music fans who frequent shows and are friends with many musicians and artist representatives. We listened to what they had to say about the type of venue they’d like to see in New York City. We created an ideal venue for both performers and fans alike. We put a state of the art sound and lighting system, and the space has near perfect sight lines. Even on a sold out show, you will have an intimate experience with your favorite performers at Sullivan Hall.

Tea Leaf Green played the grand opening celebration last night. Other shows lined up at this newly-renovated jam-and-related band-friendly spot include Marco Benevento, Hassan Hakmoun, Lettuce, Ryan Montbleau Band, Dub Is A Weapon and Appetite For Destruction (the other GNR tribute band).